Tag: writing
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Teenager by Bud Smith
I love writing that’s deceptively simple, the sort so easy and effortless that you can’t imagine a lot of work going into it. But here’s a secret: that sort of writing, when it works, is usually the result of hard work and a lot of time, because writers usually work towards a certain style, constantly […]
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Cover reveal!
At last, I’m able to present the cover artwork for Sadie, Call The Polis. I wanted something that recalled the old Faber & Faber/Flamingo book covers of the late 80s/early 90s, which is an aesthetic I love. Strange, disembodied images, striking bright colour, and bold typography. Those novels looked like CULT FICTION to me, and […]
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Library lurking for a living
Most authors I know also have part-time jobs on the side as well as other means of making money. None of them are criminals or slum landlords. Not yet, anyway. But writing has never been the most reliable way of earning a living, which means we need to get out and find work in the […]
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Social Dancing by Bis
Trends change, fashions leap around, forever leaving millions of reviewers and bloggers to catch them. Sometimes, however, it isn’t up to us to catch these trends, but to catch up with them. In the case of Bis, a band whose magpie musical styles made them impossible to categorise outside of ‘pop’ (a whole universe in […]
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College rock: a confession
Really, I should have been in a college rock band. The problem was that I came from the wrong country, turned teen in the wrong decade, and my college was a stout tower block rather than a bustling campus with a radio station where all the best songs could be found left of the dial. […]
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She died at a party
My sister died at a party, which felt strangely apt in hindsight. She loved a good party. She sat through lots of bad parties too. If she could have chosen somewhere to die, a party would have been high up on her list. That or a beach in Spain. But death is never ever that […]
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The Path to Happiness
Most writers arrive fully-formed, their debut novel hailed as something special and original. That or they’re just ignored and left to fend for themselves. The word ‘debut’ carries a special cache around the publishing industry. I started off performing live shows, writing my own stories, hoping to be published one day. Twilight was a huge […]
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The New Abnormal
I haven’t been able to update my blog in a while for a few reasons. Chiefly, my beloved dog passed away. I knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it easier, does it? I’m fine, but the world feels very strange. It feels strange anyway, with the Lockdown happening around me, but little moments […]
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Life For Sale by Yukio Mishima
Originally serialised in Playboy Magazine (in Japan) between May to October of 1968, Life For Sale wasn’t available to read in The UK for decades. Thankfully Penguin Classics decided to turn Yukio Mishima’s stories into a novel and, with the help of Stephen Dodd’s translation which makes the story accelerate along, this classic by is […]
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Coronavirus? F* *k Off!
A few weeks ago Trump was telling people that Coronavirus was a Democrat hoax. That man perpetuates blatant fraud and gets away with it because his Twitter distracts everybody, including the press. If this virus doesn’t make Trump’s supporters understand how wholly ineffective he is as a leader, then nothing will. I wish Britain would […]
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